The whole world is but one family - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

Reverse Consumerism
is the Panacea for
Worsening Global
Economy
Communism failed. Socialism never took roots.
Growth powered & unregulated Capitalism is
collapsing. No amount of bailout appear to bring
global economy on track. The main culprit is the
greed of multinational corporations fueled by
consumerism beyond one’s means by individuals
and Nations. The developed World is paying for
the excess syndrome, which is affecting developing
countries as well. Now there is talk of austerity
measures and observation of World thrift day. Any
-ism devoid of divinity is doomed to fail in bringing
justice in Society.
There is an urgent need for ‘Reverse Consumerism’
or going back to Nature. Yoga Way of Simple living
(YOGism) and Self reliance will solve the problems
of Global economy to a great extent avoiding
exploitation of the weak which is responsible
for the tensions between the rich and the poor
affecting the World peace and security.
There is need for drastic change in the mind
set from self centric to thinking of World as one
family—Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, from the western
democratic concept of “Dignity of Man” to Indian
concept of “Divinity of Man” and from the concept
of “Survival of the fittest” to the “Survival of the
weakest”. The qualities of sacrificing and sharing
46 | Bhavan Australia | February 2012
should predominate the nature of man. Service
driven activity becomes divine and useful to
society while commerce driven activity becomes
demonic and is harmful to society. There is need
for spiritual ambience in the society. A spiritual
person irrespective of any religion in the true
sense of the word, should exhibit the qualities of
compassion, contentment, charity, forgiveness,
truthfulness, gentleness, simplicity, purity,
sacrifice, sharing, service to community and love
to God and His creation, the Nature. It is easier
said than done. Desire and effort to attain Spiritual
nature, must be cultivated. Yoga Way of Living or
YOGism is an art of living in harmony with Nature
and concern to the whole humanity. In brief live
Simple, live Spiritual and live to Serve. YOGism
should be made a movement with its eternal values
and universal characteristics. All activities should
be treated as service to the people and charge for
sustenance and not as business making enormous
profit by exploiting the masses.
India is a fine example of unregulated and non
monitored democracy resulting in wide gap
between the rich and the poor. With divine culture
and Ramarajya concept, India’s democracy
should have been founded upon the recognition
of Divinity of Man as a model for the democratic
World. Non-corporate sector dominates Indian
economy with large population providing 93%
of employment in the country. Share of noncorporate
sector in domestic savings is 24%,
while corporate sector’s contribution is 8% (P.
Kanaga Sabhapathi, Yuva Bharati, August 2011).
It was not given the importance it deserves.
Instead the “Unholy Trinity” of the World Bank,
the IMF and the WTO and the financial institutions
under their control have taken the advantages of
weaknesses of developing countries, imposed on
them the so called package of economic reforms
of liberalization, privatization and globalization
otherwise known as structural adjustment
programme i.e. fiscal discipline, strict money
policies, deregulation, dismantling public projects
and programmes, reduced role of state, low tariffs
and removal of barriers to private investment, all
aimed at making them a part of the free market
world economy (PR Dubhashi, Bhavan’s Journal,
April 2009). “Occupy Wall Street” (OWS) protests
are spreading Worldwide. The people are putting
up a united fight against the economic model called
neoliberalism, run for the benefit of 1% based on
“free-market” economic model.